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Pride In King Kreon's Antigone Is Still Relevant Today

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A main concept in the play Antigone is pride. In class, we discussed the topic of pride and watched a Ted Talk along with it about the fear of being wrong. It relates to King Kreon because as a leader, he wanted to be powerful and make his own decisions. This turned for the worse however, when the decision he made was selfish and went against the people’s beliefs. Kreon’s son Haimon warned him before the execution of Antigone that it was not what the God’s wanted. He stated, “Father, the God’s implant intelligence in humans. Of all our properties, that is the supreme one. I lack the power and the training to tell you you’re wrong, and that’s just as well. But perhaps a second opinion will be valuable.” (Page 48 lines 828-832). Haimon did not say this to disrespect his father, yet Kreon took it personally and dismisses Haimon. Kreon stated, “Men our age, learn from him?” (Page 50 line 875). Rather than listening, he stuck to his pride and belittled Haimon based on his age. …show more content…

Divorce is at its highest rate ever and I believe this is because couples have too much pride and self-entitlement today. Also politicians, for example Hilary Clinton, are so swaying with their views in order to please everyone that its hard to tell how they really feels. Opposite of Kreon, who stuck to his views and refused to consider anyone else’s. Kreon reminds me of Donald Trump, they want so much credit and respect, and expect everyone to blindly follow them. The presidential candidates this election truly scares me because there isn’t one person with a middle ground. Based on leadership styles both Clinton and Trump seem to be very black and white and I don’t think either of them have the peoples best interests at heart, its more personal interests just like

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On the other hand, Antigone may be prideful, but not like her father; instead she is more arrogant towards her actions that she thinks is just. For instance, in the illegal act of burying her brother, Antigone doesn’t show any guilt as to committing the offence, she instead tells her uncle “I should have praise and honor for what I have done. All these men here would praise me were their lips not frozen shut with fear of you.” This is a bold statement said by Antigone as she tells her uncle that he is wrong, for leaving her brother unburied and that she acted in virtue not haste for what he had done. In saying this Antigone shows that she is prideful in what she had done and that others will agree with her upon it.

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One could argue that Antigone did not act for the benefit of her society. She ignored Kreon’s proclamation that prohibited anybody from burying Antigone’s brother, Polyneices, challenging his authority, and was more focused on doing what she believed was right, burying her brother and giving him the proper burial rites, and relinquishing herself of any possible guilt for not doing so. However, one can further argue that, even though Antigone’s primary intention was to revere her brother, she did act for the benefit of her society, as she indirectly fought to preserve her society’s value of honoring the dead. Antigone does realize that she has the people’s support for her actions, as she says, “my action pleases all of them, if fear did not lock up their tongues” (Sophocles 40). The latter part of Antigone’s statement suggests that people do not reveal their disapproval of Kreon’s proclamation, due to his authority and power.

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Fate has brought all my pride to a thought of dust”(Sophocles 1.5 142-146). Creon’s destruction resulted because of his misdeeds in having too much pride. His pride and his personal instability were the worst combination of possible qualities he could have. Creon’s past sins have built up and eventually burst and gave this man the worst punishment of all the characters in the play. In Antigone by Sophocles, Creon displayed many failing qualities as a king; most notably having displayed a giant ego by not accepting help from others, which warns the audience of the dangers

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In Antigone, and the rest of the world, emotions can control your actions. If you do not keep your emotions in check, especially when making an important decision, rash actions could be made. Acting rashly can lead to some pretty harsh consequences, even in a seemingly simple situation. Greed can be classified as several different ways, good or bad, right or wrong, and so on. Eteocles was greedy, and he wanted the throne that he promised to share with his brother to himself.

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Pride can be one of man's strongest qualities. In Sophocles' play, Antigone, the Theme of pride becomes the cause for destruction for both Creon and Antigone in the play.. Creon's Pride blinds him to the injustice he commits against Antigone and the gods. Antigone's pride leaves her no choice but to be killed because of her beliefs. They Both automatically surrender to their own hubris and demonstrate how uncontrolled pride leads to personal downfalls and destruction in Antigone.

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Creon begins to see how his pride lead him to this and sees how it could affect even more and starts to wonder what else his actions will do to him. The decision to punish Antigone he sees was not worth the death of his family. To conclude, Creon 's pride was his hamartia in many ways. It causes him to make decisions he wishes he didn 't. It leads him to do things that he does not actually want to do.

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The play Antigone features a deep struggle of power for King Creon. Creon faced several insecurities, during his rule, as king of Thebes. These insecurities, which stemmed from an internal power struggle, went on to, not only affect his rule as king, but his personal relationships, and emotions as well. Other reasons for his actions stem from family matters that have hindered Creon's ability to successfully control and rule by himself.

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Throughout Sophocles’ tragic play, Antigone, main characters King Kreon and Antigone dramatically argue without compromise over the recently deceased brother of Antigone, Polynices. Antigone, while attempting to mourn for her family, symbolically buries Polynices, going against the King’s decree (93-100). Out of anger, and an effort to establish his power, Kreon sentences her to an undeserving death just because she decided to respect her kin (441-496). In this case, I sympathize with Antigone more than Kreon because she peacefully acted on her beliefs knowing the consequences at stake. It takes a lot to stand up for what you believe in, especially knowing that the outcome will not bode well for you.

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From world wars to present day national elections, pride can always be connected to many appalling, life-changing issues. Pride has always either been negative or positive, and it has been around forever. In the epic play Antigone, Sophocles demonstrates how Creon’s hubris allows for the downfall of himself and the killing of his family. Creon’s fatal flaw is his hubris. Creon not only loses his family, he also loses the trust of his people.

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This feeling of pride is what led Creon to his demise. The play, “Antigone” by Sophocles is about pride and reveals to the readers that too much pride leads to destruction. The first time this theme reveals itself is while Antigone is consulting with Ismene about burying Polyneices, their brother who died, and was thought to have dishonored the family in Creon’s eyes. Due to these circumstances Polyneices was banned from being buried and from taking the journey of the afterlife to heaven.

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